The chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Rufus Egbagba, has expressed concerns over the growing practice of social media influencers filming police officers during stop-and-search operations.

Dr Rufus also said the trend is more disturbing in cases where officers simply going about their personal lives are also being recorded, which has raised important questions about accountability, privacy, and the proper conduct of police-public interactions.

Advising that the Inspector-General of Police’s position should not be misread as an attempt to shield erring officers from accountability, he maintained that it is not a directive against recording police misconduct.

In an article titled: “Social media recording of Police officers: The need for responsible reporting”, the PCRC chairman in the FCT argued that: “The IGP has never said that officers who act wrongly should not be recorded or reported. What is being called for is responsible engagement. Officers performing their lawful duties should be able to do so without unnecessary provocation, obstruction, or having every encounter turned into content for views and engagement.

“Where an officer is believed to have acted improperly, the appropriate response remains the same: preserve the evidence and report the matter through the proper channel.”

He emphasized that the Nigeria Police Force has a Police Complaint Response Unit (PCRU) where complaints against officers can be lodged, and where videos and other evidence can be submitted for investigation and appropriate action.

“Social media exposure should complement, not substitute for, formal investigation. A short video clip may not always capture the full context of an incident: what led up to it, what was said off-camera, or what followed. Yet once published, it can quickly shape public judgment against an individual officer or the Force as a whole, before the facts are established.

“Like any large institution, the Police Force has its share of bad actors, and their conduct should never be excused. However, the repeated recording and circulation of the misconduct of a few can create a distorted impression that such behaviour defines the entire Nigeria Police Force. This does little to serve genuine accountability, and it can also affect how Nigeria is perceived internationally.

“There is also a human dimension to this that deserves attention. Many officers are posted to remote, isolated, and genuinely dangerous locations, often far from family and under difficult conditions, and they rely on morale and public goodwill to sustain them in that service. It undermines that morale when officers are filmed without consent for entertainment or content purposes during ordinary, off-duty moments, such as while eating at a restaurant, rather than in the context of any wrongdoing.

” This is different from documenting misconduct; it is content-making at an individual’s expense, and it deserves to be called out as such. The  objective, ultimately, should be accountability rather than sensationalism.”

He pointed out that where an officer acts wrongly, the evidence should be preserved and reported through the proper channel, so the appropriate authority can investigate and act.

“This approach protects the public’s right to accountability while also protecting the dignity of officers and the integrity of the institution.”